My girlfriend is from the future!

With the year-end approaching, the company had given everyone a holiday early. He Tianran, who had long been accustomed to his busy daily schedule, suddenly felt somewhat out of place. Perhaps it was because, since being diagnosed with mental illness, he had become accustomed to dealing with the differences in life caused by the emergence of various personalities.

But lately, he has become increasingly calm. In Shanghai, he and Wen Liang became "ghosts who went to the Yellow Springs together". Then, at the family dinner in Hong Kong, he witnessed his father, who never apologized and only paid the price for his choices. Later, he and Cao Aiqing "desecrated" each other in the Guanyin Temple. Finally, Jiang Xixi gave him the ultimate "hypnosis".

All of this made him clearly realize the meaning that the name "He Tianran" represented in the minds of others. It allowed this man, who had not yet understood his own life, to find some fragments about himself in their words.

As these fragments are gradually pieced together, He Tianran's inner personality, after experiencing a split, becomes increasingly vivid.

Therefore, He Tianran decided to be more proactive and find opportunities to get to know more about himself and his past that others have left behind.

That day, he created a group chat, with members Xue Yong, Li Wang, Yu Hui, Wei Xing, Cai Jueming, and Hu Yue.

Noah: "Hey everyone, are you free lately?"

AAA Port City Aquaculture Salesman Xiao Xue: "Hey, who's this? Who's this? Isn't this Director He? Why are you adding me to the group chat? Trying to sell me business?"

Dawn is in sight: "It's almost Chinese New Year, I'll definitely have time."

He Tianran was replying when suddenly everything went black, and a notification popped up on the chat interface—

"The 'Sassy Scholar' changed the group name to 'Gay Dating Platform'."

The flirtatious scholar: "Director He, please feel free to ask if you need anything~ No need to be polite @QiankunZiYiJingZhong"

Qiankun Ziyi Jingzhong: "I'm telling a guy's fortune right now. You guys chat first. This guy's birth chart is really interesting. He's male, his hobby is women, but he specifically attracts men. I'll give him a proper reading."

AAA Port City Aquaculture Salesman Xiao Xue: "Oh? There's a fortune teller here? Which master is it? Add me as a friend, my wife is about to give birth, master, please tell my fortune..."

Ah Hui: "I'm leaving Hong Kong the day after tomorrow. If you need anything, just say so."

He Tianran usually attends many industry dinners, but since his schizophrenia, he has rarely met with his former friends. Firstly, he is afraid of exposing his condition, and secondly, as the "writer" who now controls his body, he doesn't really like socializing. If he has free time, he prefers to be alone.

Noah: "It's almost Chinese New Year, and I'd like to have dinner with everyone tonight~"

Li Ming asked, "Can I bring my family?"

The flirtatious scholar said, "Dad, what are you saying? I'm right here. Can't you see that our group is all male? If there were any girls I didn't know, I would have added them already."

Eight Thousand Female Ghosts: "A Pure Arhat Scheme?"

He Tianran scratched his head, feeling that the group of people he had recruited were indeed a bit too gender-sensitive.

Noah: "How about we meet at Platinum Palace tonight?"

AAA Port City Aquaculture Salesman Xiao Xue: "Whoa~ Director He, you're not afraid of death, but I am! Stop it, stop it, tell me first why you called us out here."

Noah: "It's just... I'm getting everyone together for a meal before the New Year."

AAA Port City Aquaculture Salesman Xiao Xue: "Let's find a place to eat and drink well, chat and joke around. If we're still not done and want to play a second round, we can talk about it later. Everyone, please send us what you want to eat and any dietary restrictions in the group chat, and I'll make the arrangements."

Sure enough, this kind of thing can only be handled by a gourmand like Xue Yong. He Tianran also realized that if they were to go directly to a place like Platinum Palace, people like Li Wang and Xue Yong, who have families, would most likely not go. On the contrary, if it is just a meal at a pre-arranged gathering, they would not bring any companions to accommodate the feelings of the other single friends.

……

……

As evening approached, He Tianran arrived on time at the door of the private room at the restaurant where Xue Yong had arranged to meet.

This restaurant offers everything from the eight major cuisines of China to hot pot and barbecue, yet it still retains a lively, down-to-earth atmosphere. The private rooms even seem to have karaoke facilities. As He Tianran walked in, he heard a lot of shouting from the neighbors. He pushed open the door and saw that most of his friends were already there in the large private room. Hu Yue, Wei Xing, and Yu Hui were sitting and chatting, eating the cold dishes and fruits served before the meal. Xue Yong and Li Wang were taking pictures with their phones in the room, but it was unclear what they were filming.

When Xue Yong saw He Tianran push the door open and enter, he turned his phone camera towards him, and while greeting him, he muttered something to himself:
“Hey honey, today’s gathering is really a pure gathering of 'Lohan’ (a term of endearment for a group of friends), Director He is there too. You don’t trust me, but you trust him more? I’ve already sent you the location, it’s the restaurant that Lao Song owns. Didn’t you come here with your girlfriends last month? Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be home before midnight. It’s 6:10 pm now. I’ll take another picture for you at 9 pm, remind me.”

After saying that, he ended the phone recording, leaving He Tianran speechless...

"Does this... really need to be reported to this extent?"

"Oh, you don't understand. Pregnant women are the most insecure. If I hadn't told her that you were the one I invited to dinner today, she probably wouldn't have let me go. I haven't had a proper drink in almost two months. Today, we're definitely going to drink until we drop!"

After sending the video, Xue Yong put his phone away and put his arm around He Tianran's shoulder. Li Wang, who was also reporting the news, took a few pictures of them taking their seats, then quietly walked to the window, turned the camera around, and took a selfie. It was clear that he was the most cautious of the group of men when it came to reporting the news...

“Hey, aren’t you going to take a picture? I remember when Cao Aiqing was in England, you reported to the authorities much more frequently than we did. As someone who’s been there, let me give you some advice: don’t think you can slack off just because you’ve got a job.”

"..."

After taking their seats, Xue Yong whispered something in He Tianran's ear.

"Uh... let's not talk about that today."

The man looked embarrassed. Xue Yong's eyes darted around. This shrewd man had accompanied He Tianran to the university town to drink with Wen Liang before. He knew that Li Wang and Wei Xing were Wen Liang's friends. Moreover, he was the one who caused the scandal that Zhang Zhifan caused abroad at that class reunion. So even without knowing He Tianran's current situation, just by mentioning this issue and seeing his friend's embarrassed and evasive expression, he immediately formed his own logical chain in his mind.

"Okay, got it." Xue Yong silently made an "OK" gesture, his face showing understanding. The clueless "writer" was astonished. What did he understand?
However, it's really not good to delve into this issue right now. He Tianran glanced at Hu Yue across from him, while Hu Yue gave him a flirtatious wink.

In fact, besides the two points mentioned above, there is another important objective factor that prevents the "writer" from making friends with these people: he doesn't have many memories of these friends. He only got to know Li Wang and Wei Xing because of their later work. Even when he first learned that Xue Yong was his friend, the "writer" was surprised, let alone "new" friends like Hu Yue and Cai Jueming, whom he only met before his personality split.

However, looking at Hu Xiucai's smug face, the "writer" suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. In fact, this feeling had been there since he entered the private room, and it came from his heart, from his other personality—the "lead singer".

"What, do you know them? Want to come out?"

He asked himself the question silently, but received no response.

"Hey Lao Xue, did you know all of you here before?"

He Tianran deliberately asked a question, and Xue Yong nodded, "I know him. Hui introduced him to me before you came. He's the great screenwriter Hu. Why didn't you introduce him to your group of friends earlier? Otherwise, we would have drunk together several times already."

"Yeah, Director He, Lao Cai and I came back from the film set last month. Why didn't you invite us sooner? You're always on variety shows and walking the red carpet, you're really living the high life!"

Hu Yue made a joke.

"Hahaha, eh? Where's the other person?"

The "writer" gave a dry laugh to cover it up, glanced around and noticed that one person was still missing, then asked.

"Old Cai, he's gone to pick out lambs. He's really good at picking them. Our main dish today is roast whole lamb."

"Oh, that's how it is……"

The "writer" knew that Hu Yue and Cai Jueming were the scriptwriter and photographer for the second group of "Wild in My Heart". According to the original owner's chat logs, the two had a very good relationship, which is why he risked calling them over this time.

However, the limitations of the "writer" personality are limited here. He can quickly clarify some relationships and affairs, and he can deal with strangers in a professional manner at work. But with some people he was already familiar with, he would subconsciously become reserved because of the unfamiliarity of his memories. This is actually human nature, but in the eyes of this group of friends who were already very familiar with "He Tianran", it would become very awkward, and give people the feeling that... they were not very familiar with each other, and the feelings had faded.

"Director He, you seem a bit strange today?"

Seeing that He Tianran had been very uneasy since he entered the room, Hu Yue asked a question.

"...Really? Maybe it's because I've been out of work for a while, I feel a lot more relaxed."

"Relaxed? Hmm, no matter how I look at it, you seem a bit tense."

Just then, the door was pushed open again, and a man with large sunglasses on his nose, wearing a leather jacket and trench coat, and holding a pack of "He Tianxia" cigarettes walked in.

"The lamb is selected, 20 jin, six months old. Brother Xue, you found a good shop. The lambs are all live sheep transported from Inner Mongolia."

"That's because my brother is very particular about authenticity in business."

Xue Yong replied smugly, and Cai Jueming waved the cigarette in his hand: "Indeed, when I came up just now, the boss even gave me a pack of cigarettes."

"Hey Cai, can you take off those big sunglasses? Director He is here, how dare you act all high and mighty? Do you think you're Chow Yun-fat? Are you going to light a cigarette with some cash later?"

Hu Yue started complaining as soon as he saw Cai Jueming, who didn't seem to care, and with a "hey!" he started tearing open the cigarette pack in his hand.
"Looks like my son's getting increasingly reckless. Take this bullet!"

At this moment, Cai Jueming seemed to have truly turned the cigarette in his hand into a bullet, transforming into Little Ma, inverting the cigarette box and pouring out packs of cigarettes one by one, then casually throwing them at the crowd. First, it hit Hu Yue with both hands raised high, then Li Wang with one hand, and then Yu Hui, who was forced to stretch out his arms...

This guy seemed to be doing it on purpose, not throwing accurately but just slightly off target, intentionally letting someone catch it. The men present seemed to tacitly approve of this behavior, and after catching it, they breathed a sigh of relief as if they had caught a treasure, then watched with schadenfreude as others tried to catch it, as if they were hoping someone would miss...

The funniest part was Xue Yong's turn. Cai Jueming thought he wasn't familiar with this guy yet, so he just threw it to him seriously. Unexpectedly, Xue Yong, that bastard, saw the cigarette coming and twisted his body, headed it, and headed the cigarette pack into another parabola, which landed right in the trash can next to him...

"Whoa—!!!"

All the boys present gasped in unison, seemingly surprised at something, but their expressions of shock were no less than if they had witnessed someone score a spectacular header. Xue Yong, in particular, stood up excitedly, his face flushed, arms raised high, and shouted:
"Siu—!!!"

The "writer" sat there, blinking, feeling strangely calm in comparison to the surrounding noise and excitement...

"Quickly, put the pressure on Director He!"

Amid Hu Yue's jeers, He Tianran tensed up. He saw Cai Jueming smirk and, under the intense gaze of the other man, actually make a few feints to bluff. Everyone held their breath, not even blinking...

Suddenly, Cai Jueming lifted his trench coat to conceal the throwing motion, then spun around, throwing a dark shadow from his hand while shouting:
"Little Cai's Flying Dagger—!"

He Tianran, who was on high alert, heard a whoosh of wind past his ear, and the next second, he heard a chorus of disappointment from everyone present—

"Ugh……"

"Hey, Director He, you've been preparing for ages, and this still won't work..."

The "writer" turned around in a daze and saw Hu Yue picking up the cigarette that Cai Jueming had thrown over his head, while he heard the other man's teasing voice.

"Let me handle this. You're really not good at handling these kinds of situations; you don't want to make a fool of yourself." (End of Chapter)